Safety-box seizure in Cancun has Mérida customers on edge

First National Security in Mérida is besieged by customers after its Cancun branch was breached by authorities. Photo: Whatsapp

Mérida, Yucatán — Hundreds of nervous customers lined up early this week at First National Security to retrieve valuables after security boxes at a similar facility in Cancun were seized by federal authorities.

By Wednesday, calm returned to the facility, but customers have not rushed back to return their belongings to their safes.

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After last week’s seizure of 1,500 security boxes in Cancun, lines formed outside the security-box company on the Prolongación del Paseo de Montejo. One reporter documenting the confusion had her cellphone slapped by an irate customer who demanded privacy.

The safety boxes in Cancun were confiscated under an investigation into organized crime in Quinana Roo. Legislators condemned the action, and local media referred to the seizure as the “robbery of the century.”

Similar companies in the city, like Stonewall in Col. Mexico Oriente, and City Safe in Col. Mexico, also saw customers retrieving their property, according to Sipse.